Geographyhttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/303
Sun, 02 Aug 2015 22:25:20 GMT2015-08-02T22:25:20ZOrphanage Tourism in Cambodia: The Complexities of ‘Doing Good’ in Popular Humanitarianismhttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/5791
Orphanage Tourism in Cambodia: The Complexities of ‘Doing Good’ in Popular Humanitarianism
2015
Guiney, Tess Catherine
Alternative forms of tourism within Global South nations are increasingly popular for Western tourists seeking more adventurous, ethical or ‘authentic’ tourism experiences. One such tourism form – orphanage tourism – sees tourists from wealthier, predominantly Western, nations visiting residential care centres in ‘developing’ nations to visit, volunteer at, or make donations to poor children. This thesis explores orphanage tourism within the context of Cambodia, adopting a critical geography approach to investigate the intricate and contentious aspects of tourism within this space. A critical geography approach to orphanage tourism enables an examination of the range of influences upon orphanage tourism at multi-scalar levels. Through this, I explore the complexity of orphanage tourism’s genesis and development, examining what prompts tourists to participate, the impacts that this tourism form has, and the anti-orphanage tourism campaigns that have developed to resist orphanage tourism, both in Cambodia and internationally.
This thesis argues that those who participate in orphanage tourism are largely motivated by a particular perception of ‘developing’ nations and their populations. I argue that through popular geopolitical commentaries, tourists’ perceptions of Cambodia are shaped into an imaginative geography of suffering, desperation and poverty. Such a construction arguably promotes a perception that popular humanitarian intervention is needed and appropriate, or indeed required, of a responsible neoliberal subject. The promotion of children within aid campaigns and celebrity humanitarianism similarly results in popular humanitarian forms focused upon children to be particularly popular.
The tourist imagination of Cambodia has a significant impact upon how orphanage tourism materialises. For example, through these mediated commentaries on child suffering, a desire for intimacy is created, prompting ‘hug-an-orphan’ vacations. As a result, children are expected to interact with tourists in particular forms. I examine the pressure that this places on the children within these centres, extending upon emotional labour literature. Geopolitical representations of suffering and poverty similarly create an expectation of poverty and difference, with less scrupulous orphanages encouraged to conform to these stereotypical representations to garner donations. Subsequently, understanding of complex situations is erased and dominant perceptions are reinforced and played upon.
Promoted as a beneficial and benign tourism form, orphanage tourism can be seen as having a profound impact upon the children within these centres. Orphanage tourism is largely motivated by a desire to help those in need. Indeed, there are arguably significant benefits of this tourism form. Ultimately, however, this thesis argues that orphanage tourism extends neoliberal principles and results in more costs than benefits for the children within these centres, as well as the wider system of residential care in Cambodia. In addition, such individualised and emotional responses to suffering arguably erase pressure for political responses to the structural violence within the international system that results in such inequality and poverty.
Finally, I examine anti-orphanage tourism campaigns that have developed to resist orphanage tourism. Over the past five years, several Cambodian as well as international groups have rallied against orphanage tourism. These groups have prompted important changes within the orphanage tourism sector. Many protesters claim that the industry facilitates the encroachment of neoliberal practices into the lives of these children, with popular humanitarianism representing the ‘soft-edge’ of neoliberalism. The future of orphanage tourism in Cambodia will depend on a complex number of factors, with these groups being especially influential. In this thesis I argue that there is an urgent need to consider the role of international processes that create the inequality on which orphanage tourism predicated. Popular and celebrity humanitarianism focus almost exclusively on the symptoms of poverty rather than the causes and for true changes to occur, a significant reconfiguration of the international system is required.
Thu, 09 Jul 2015 20:49:40 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/57912015-07-09T20:49:40ZPlaces of transit: An exploration of bus stop design and how to make them an attractive urban placehttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/5784
Places of transit: An exploration of bus stop design and how to make them an attractive urban place
2015
Swaffield, Martin Oliver
A major issue for urban policy makers and planners is how to stimulate a shift away from car dependency. A key problem they face is how to make public transport – specifically bus travel – attractive to people who have other choices. Much of the transport and planning literature investigating how to make bus travel more desirable has focussed largely on the logistics of bus movement and bus network efficiency. However, this has overlooked the role of the design of bus stops in influencing passengers’ travel experience. This study considers the role of bus stops in travel experience and how they are designed and managed within the transport system. It examines two perspectives, key stakeholders and the community, undertaking key informant interviews, policy analysis, open-ended surveys and focus group discussion. It explores how the design features shape and can alter the community’s experience of travelling by bus in order to make sustainable travel arrangements more attractive. By understanding the experiences of the passengers waiting at bus stops, conclusions can be drawn on what design features bus stops require to be a more desirable urban place.
The findings suggest that in order to make bus stops a desirable and liveable urban space there are six areas that need to be improved, bus stop design process, issues that arise during the process, land-use issues, tensions between agencies, the visions and ideas of the community, and more collaborative approach between responsible agencies. A more proactive and creative approach to bus stop design as an integral part of liveable streets could make them ‘shop windows’ to encourage more public transport use as a pathway towards a more sustainable urban future.
Wed, 08 Jul 2015 21:30:06 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/57842015-07-08T21:30:06ZCommunity planning in North East Valleyhttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/5758
Community planning in North East Valley
2015
Parra Muñoz, Alejandra del Carmen
Community planning is when a community makes decisions about issues that matter to them. There are diverse views on the role, function and process of community planning, depending on who is driving it. From the formal planning perspective, community planning is initiated by formal institutions so communities can have an input on decision making processes and improve the quality of state services. On the other hand, community planning from the communities' perspectives, is initiated by themselves to allow a transformation of community members from being service users to active citizens. Literature on community planning suggests that outcomes include a deeper level of democracy, a shift from traditional forms of government to a multi-stakeholder governance approach, greater attention to social justice and a more fair distribution of power. This research seeks to explore the approach to community planning in Dunedin’s North East Valley (NEV), a mixed income and ethnically diverse neighborhood. The NEV Community Development Project has been operating since the 1990s with a goal of creating a better place for the children of the community through community development. The NEV Community Project has gained recognition from community members as well as from the DCC, which have acknowledged the value of having an active community working alongside with them. Based on interviews, workshops and participant observation, this research identifies the barriers to community planning and how this kind of processes can be supported. Initial findings indicate that barriers to community planning are related to difficulty in engaging community members and a lack of flexibility in the formal planning process. The conclusions of this study should help to find ways to better support community planning, both from inside and outside the communities.
Wed, 01 Jul 2015 20:48:54 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/57582015-07-01T20:48:54ZWhat Is The Contribution Of Abrasion To The Sediment Budget Of A Mixed Sand And Gravel Beach?http://hdl.handle.net/10523/5753
What Is The Contribution Of Abrasion To The Sediment Budget Of A Mixed Sand And Gravel Beach?
2015
Chen, Bin
What is the contribution of abrasion to the sediment budget of a mixed sand and gravel beach? This was the primary research question for this thesis. Research focused on determining the abrasion rate (%/m2/d) and abrasion loss (kg/m2/d) and the factors that influence the abrasion of sediment using the Waitaki coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Laboratory tumbler experiments showed that abrasion of sediments along the Waitaki coast varied from place to place due to the intrinsic factors, of sediment size, textural mix, and degree of weathering. The influence of particle shape on abrasion was less clear. The results of sediment tracking with Radio Frequency Identification technology showed that the further the pebbles moved, the greater the resulting abrasion. However results from tagged pebbles did not adequately represent the continuous abrasion loss across the active beach. Consequently a new approach using abrasion baskets was developed to measure abrasion rates continuously in the swash zone. The result from abrasion baskets showed the greatest abrasion occurred in the middle of swash zone while less abrasion occurred at the upper swash limit and breaker zone. From these results using abrasion baskets, the concept of the ‘abrasion zone’ was defined in this study.
A novel abrasion model was developed using swash forces on sediment as the driver of abrasion. This differs from traditional abrasion models where transport distance is the primary factor determining abrasion. The model conceptualizes abrasion as a continuous process in the abrasion zone, unlike previous research that has focused on abrasion rates of individual particles that experience episodic abrasion during transport and burial. Significantly, the model allows calculation of abrasion loss using abrasion zone width, abrasion rate (%/m2/d) and abrasion loss (kg/m2/d) occurring over 33 years from 1979 to 2011, for the Waitaki coast.
A sediment budget model was developed for the Waitaki coast. Historical beach profiles were used to calculate rates of cliff retreat and longshore sediment transport. An empirical formula was used for simulating the bedload contribution of rivers. The abrasion loss was calculated from the abrasion model. The sediment budget showed that abrasion loss on the Waitaki coast varied from 474,000 to 700,000 m3/yr over the 33 years. Results showed that abrasion made the Waitaki coast erosional in 21 of the 33 years, and in the other 12 years, the sediment budget was positive due to cliff erosion supplying sediment to beaches. Longshore sediment transport and river supply were minor contributors at 3 % and 4 % of the budget respectively. Cliff erosion and abrasion loss dominated at 34 % and 59 % of the budget respectively during the 33 years. Thus abrasion is the most important (negative) contributor to the sediment budget of the mixed sand and gravel beaches studied.
Tue, 30 Jun 2015 22:11:24 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/57532015-06-30T22:11:24ZCumulative Effects and New Zealand’s Resource Management Act: An Institutional Analysishttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/5732
Cumulative Effects and New Zealand’s Resource Management Act: An Institutional Analysis
2015
Becher, Suzanne Anette
Cumulative effects (CE) on the environment are among the most difficult effects to manage in an anticipatory manner, because of the small size of individual effects, the diverse, and dispersed character of sources, and the potential for rapid escalation to crisis stage due to non-linear interactions. Adopting an institutional perspective, this research conducted a document analysis to evaluate the potential of New Zealand’s resource management institutional arrangements for anticipatory CE management (CEM). A complementary case-study of management of CEs from on-site effluent treatment (OSET) in Clyde (Central Otago, NZ) assessed whether current implementation of the RMA realises that potential.
New Zealand’s RMA uses an effects-based based approach to manage impacts from land use activities on common resources. This is complemented by the “polluter pays” principle, which seeks to predict the significance of an effect, and to avoid, mitigate or remedy environmental damage at the source. This research argues that there are two types of CEs: One has linear properties that accumulate in an additive manner. The second has non-linear, complex systems properties that preclude prediction of effects and definitive identification of a source. This information failure means these CEs cannot be managed by the RMA’s polluter pays approach, but require top-down intervention. This thesis posits that in addition to the predict-and-control philosophy of the RMA an adaptive management approach is required to manage non-linear CEs affecting common resources. This is principally enabled by the RMA, however, two institutional barriers to this approach to anticipatory CEM were identified: grandfathering and the inability to fund top-down interventions under the RMA.
Analysis of statutory documents showed that incomplete implementation of RMA provisions results in failure to realise its potential, presenting further challenges to CEM. The case-study revealed that in the absence of strategic guidance at the national and regional levels, management of effects from OSET in Clyde is driven tactically through the consenting process by collaborating stakeholders. This research also identified “soft” barriers to CE management that are exacerbated by an unwillingness to accept fiscal responsibility for CEM initiatives by local authorities. Institutional arrangements for CEM of OSET in Clyde, and potentially more generally, thus fall significantly short of ideal requirements and currently hamper successful anticipatory CEM.
Mon, 22 Jun 2015 21:26:32 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/57322015-06-22T21:26:32ZICTs and Rural Development in South India: Problematising Empowerment, Social Capital and Volunteeringhttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/5701
ICTs and Rural Development in South India: Problematising Empowerment, Social Capital and Volunteering
2015
Chatbar, Rakhee
This thesis examines the deployment of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) in rural India. It seeks to contribute to scholarly discussions in the field of ICT4D by examining one particular project, the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation’s Village Knowledge Centres (VKCs) and the Village Resource Centres (VRCs) initiative in rural South India.
Drawing from substantive field research conducted in the state of Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Pondicherry, this thesis examines the three key developmental outcomes of the VKCs initiative — empowerment, social capital, and volunteering. The thesis argues that the VKCs initiative has not successfully met the key development objectives as the opportunities offered are not transformative and do not alter existing structural conditions. This is because the micro-contextual variations within and across rural communities are not adequately integrated into the design and implementation of the project. The thesis also argues that the VKCs initiative in rural India is significantly impacted by larger global and national structures. A more robust engagement by the NGO that considers the inter-connectedness of institutional, social and cultural structures and micro-contexts is central to harness the potential of ICTs to deliver development objectives.
In undertaking this study, the thesis makes the following research contributions. First, the thesis responds to scholarly demand for empirically based engagements as a key means to ascertain the potential of ICTs for development. Secondly, the thesis broadens the theoretical and empirical understanding of empowerment, social capital and volunteering in ICT4D. Finally, the thesis proposes a number of practical recommendations for policy makers. The thesis aims to contribute to research in ICT4D, studies on rural development in India, and to future strategies for incorporating ICTs more effectively in development planning and practice.
Mon, 08 Jun 2015 03:04:41 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/57012015-06-08T03:04:41ZThe Role of Planning in Contemporary Urban India: Consequences and Lessons from the Hyderabad Metropolitan Rail: Telangana, Indiahttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/5688
The Role of Planning in Contemporary Urban India: Consequences and Lessons from the Hyderabad Metropolitan Rail: Telangana, India
2015
Whitworth, Joseph James
Rapid urbanisation in India has led to its cities becoming increasingly fragmented and subject to massive congestion. Further, the agencies in control of urban development have been widely criticised in planning literature for their role in poor governance processes, corruption and public exclusion. Hyderabad, the largest city and capital of Andhra Pradesh (now Telangana), has suffered from these same issues and its residents endure increasingly poor mobility. In line with Central Government policy which advocates for metro rail as an urban transport solution, Hyderabad has entered into the world’s largest Public Private Partnership (PPP) to develop and begin implementing the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR). Given the scale and significance of the project, and the various stakeholders involved, the HMR provides an interesting insight into the current state of planning and urban development in India.
This research addresses the implications of the planning process in Hyderabad, and how these are manifesting in the Metro Rail project. The thesis focusses on the role planning plays, and the degree to which it is used in the project. Specifically, the thesis analyses the impacts of the planning process on the wider public, and communities in the city. Further, the research addresses implications on the HMR as a result of broader failures in the planning and regulatory frameworks in the city.
Based on intensive fieldwork amongst bureaucrats, planners, non-governmental organisations, academics, journalists, religious communities and business communities the thesis finds that poor planning frameworks have led to underutilisation of, and inadequacies in, the planning process. Further, it shows that the interaction between master planning and regulation falls significantly short of the necessary level for such a large project. In addition, coordination between urban local bodies is lacking, and the understanding of each agencies role in the project is minimal. This planning process has led to inadequacies in consultation with citizens, and exacerbation of impacts on low and middle class communities in the city.
Mon, 01 Jun 2015 20:55:09 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/56882015-06-01T20:55:09ZTackling Freshwater Decision Making Through a Catchment Wide Collaborative Approach : An Evaluation of the Manuherikia Catchment Decision Making Processhttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/5663
Tackling Freshwater Decision Making Through a Catchment Wide Collaborative Approach : An Evaluation of the Manuherikia Catchment Decision Making Process
2015
Stagg, Erin
Balancing the demands and values attributed to complex and integrated freshwater systems can often be contentious and challenging. Collaborative planning has gained international support as a potential solution for balancing multifarious values and including those disparate interests in decision making. In New Zealand, the Land and Water Forum has also recommended that difficult freshwater allocation decisions be made through collaboration. As a result several catchments throughout New Zealand have pursued collaborative planning models in order to make decisions regarding freshwater allocation. The study aims to evaluate the collaborative process occurring within Central Otago’s Manuherikia Catchment. The Manuherikia Catchment Group process was examined to determine the extent to which collaboration was equitable, just and engaging, and whether consensus was sought through group discourse and deliberation. It was also used as a case study through which collaboration could be evaluated as a decision making mechanism. The analysis of the results showed that while the process designers had sought to include divergent and diverse voices in the decision making process, some weaker aspects of the process have resulted in certain groups feeling marginalised. Strengths of the process included the dissemination of information, the creation of social capital, and the consensus seeking process. Weaknesses included that power dynamics, process designer expectations and tight time frames resulted in some views not being equally heard. Given these results, future collaborative freshwater planning efforts should endeavour to address these weaknesses in order to facilitate more robust and equitable processes. Overall the research findings indicate that collaborative planning processes are desirable solution finding and decision making tool so long as all interests groups are willing and able to participate as equals.
Tue, 12 May 2015 02:14:59 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/10523/56632015-05-12T02:14:59Z